Welfare support at Sandhurst, Women's Ashes, Rape trials in Scotland - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

In her first broadcast interview, Louise Townsend, the mother of Olivia Perks who took her own life in 2019 whilst at Sandhurst Military Academy, speaks to Woman’s Hour. Louise discusses her view that there was a lack of welfare support from the academy towards her late daughter and what steps need to be taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Today is a big day coming up with the Women's Ashes series where England face Australia. The Aussies have surged ahead in the women's multi-format series, but there is hope for England as the momentum behind them builds - thanks, in part, to record breaking crowds. Sports journalist and broadcaster Georgie Heath joins Nuala to discuss.

Shakardokht Jafari was born in rural Afghanistan in 1977 and became a refugee when she was 6 and grew up in Iran. After the fall of the Taliban, she moved back to Afghanistan first securing a teaching post in radiology at Kabul Medical University, then being asked to re-establish a cancer facility in Kabul. To secure the post, she needed to gain more qualifications, and in 2010 she came to the UK where she became the first Afghan woman to earn a PhD in medical physics. Shakar has gone on to win a string of awards for business innovation and has also found time to write her life story, Shakar: An Afghan Woman’s Journey and to be a leading campaigner for girls’ education in Afghanistan.

Can distress be used as evidence in rape trials? This is the discussion currently going through the courts in Scotland. Nuala is joined by Sandy Brindley, Chief Exec of Rape Crisis Scotland and Serious Crime Barrister Thomas Leonard Ross KC to debate the issue.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce

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